Browsing by study line "Yleinen ja aikuiskasvatustiede"
Now showing items 41-60 of 207
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(2023)The idea of this thesis was to build an understanding of the organizational cultures of two organizations that are parties to an acquisition. By characterizing the current culture of these organizations, it is possible to facilitate the merging and alignment of cultures, so that cooperation in the new situation would be successful. The research was a quantitative survey during fall of 2022, and based on the data from the survey, cultural profiles were built for both organizations. By comparing these cultural profiles, plan was to find the areas and entities in current cultures where they are similar and can so be seen as the company’s core competence and strength. Idea was also to find the areas where the current cultures are different and where the so-called collision of cultures could happen, or where the differences can be turned into strength. Both organizations were well represented in the data, but there were less answers in open questions than was expected. According to the results, the most important factor in both organizations is its employees and people-to-people cooperation. Also, both cultures emphasized their own industries, which are slightly different for these two organizations. The results did not reveal a large clash of cultures, but especially on the main group’s side, the organizational culture could require refinement and harmonization throughout the entire company.
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(2022)The purpose of this thesis was to disclose the current views of Finnish and English language use and development in a multiculturalising Finnish service industry company from its personnel and their views of the future changes in the use of working languages. The research is topical as the foreign workforce in the industry keeps growing and the Finnish population is becoming more multilingual. So far there has been little research on the working languages of Finnish companies, as the research has mainly focused on multinational companies. The aim of the thesis is to find prevailing differences of views about the meaning of languages in multilingual working life from a phenomenographic point of view. Views have been outlined to the themes of everyday work, foreign language development and future working language. The language choices in work situations are studied from the perspectives of language skill development and situations of communication. In the study, seven people from four different organizational areas were interviewed: workers, supervisors, manager-level supervisors, and a member of the training team. The interview material was analyzed with phenomenographic methods using the Atlas.ti software. The results of the thesis show that there are regional differences in the importance of languages in everyday work within the service industry company. In work communities, the choice of language was based on the language skills shared by the members of the community. In situations where the employee did not have sufficient skills in the Finnish language, communication was facilitated by common languages of the work community. The respondents felt that the importance of the English language in the company will increase as the share of foreign workforce in the industry increases. The employees saw the importance of English language skills increasing at the supervisor level, but at the same time they also felt that the use of the English language acted as a slowing factor for foreign workers' learning of the Finnish language in everyday work.
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(2023)The work of an artist performing popular music requires comprehensive commitment, and to be successful, the artist must not only be in a favorable starting point, but also practice long-term. Success is not achieved alone, and a supportive environment has been found to be essential when aiming for the top. Commitment to training as well as motivation and belief in one's own abilities are easily put to the test without a supportive environment. The purpose of this study was to examine the encouragement received by successful singing artists performing popular music and the meanings of encouragement. The study identified in which stages of the life path of successful artists the meaningful encouragement experiences are located and what kind of meanings successful artists give to the encouragement they receive. The necessity of the research is increased by the fact that scientific research on artists performing popular music is very scarce, and my research corrects this deficiency in part. In the study, five successful artists performing popular music were interviewed. The interviews were conducted as open narrative interviews. The research was carried out and analyzed according to the narrative approach. Based on the stories of the artists, I placed the meaningful encouragement experiences in childhood and youth, the beginning of a career, critical moments and places of choice, as well as publicity, success and increased experience. I categorized the meanings of encouragement into opportunities, motivation and enthusiasm, self-belief and contradictions regarding encouragement. The encouragement stories of the artists were mostly in line with each other. Their lives have been very similar in terms of, for example, a musically encouraging growth environment, opportunities received and a career with an ascending start. They have received a lot of encouragement from many different sources throughout their life and it has supported them even through difficult moments. In the artists’ stories, the diversity and importance of encouragement came up both in childhood and youth as well as in the midst of success, the encouragement for example strengthening self-belief and providing opportunities. The participants found it meaningful that encouragement never ceased in any stage of life. The results of this study mostly support the results of previous studies and indicate that encouragement received in the early years of life has a significant role in future achievements.
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(2022)Aims. The aim of this master's thesis was to gain insights to the nature of the workplace mediation field and mediators in Finland. The purpose is to fulfil the current research gap on workplace mediators as similar studies have not been conducted before. This research focuses on workplace mediators' orientations which are considered the internalized theories of practice, the perceptions of mediation process, the roles of participants and the intervener and goals for the mediation intervention. Orientation reflects on mediators' actions and participants' autonomy in situational mediation framework and its' explication has been acknowledged to be part of mediators' ethical principles. This research explores if congruences can be identified within theoretically formulated orientation variables and between previous mediation literature. Further, this study explores whether these orientation dimensions can be utilized in distinguishing clusters amongst mediators. Methods. The research data was collected in January 2020 by using an electronic questionnaire. Re-spondents, who identified as workplace mediators (N = 99), form a self-assorted sample of population. The questionnaire contained descriptive and orientation-related variables along with questions considering mediation experience and training. Orientation dimensions were extracted with principal axis factoring method. Further, the respondents were divided into four different orientation pro-file subgroups by using Two-Step Cluster analysis. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to explore if orientation profile group memberships could be predicted by demographic or mediation experience related antecedents. Results and conclusions. Three orientation dimensions were identified from the research data. Based on the content analysis which builds upon the theoretical framework, the dimensions were labelled as evaluative, facilitative and transformative. Based on the orientation dimensions, four distinguish orientation profile subgroups were identified amongst workplace mediators in Finland. The orientation dimensions overlap and emerge interrelatedly contradicting the traditional and typical representations of theoretically formulated approaches to mediation. The explanatory variables selected for the multinomial logistic regression model were incapable to predict memberships to different orientation profile groups.
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(2022)The aim of this study was to explore positive discrimination projects, which promote equality during early childhood education and elementary education. The projects were funded by government assistance by Finnish National Agency for Education. The purpose of government assistance was to promote social and regional equality and to prevent social exclusion. The data was gathered by interviewing project participants who were working in three different projects. Based on the data, I did explore dimensions of equality and opportunities that the projects gave to promote setted goals of positive discrimination. For the sake of analyzing the gathered data a discursive reading method was used, which aimed to point out different, parallel and competing meanings of equality. Discursive analysis sees that language has constructive and profitable nature. Using the method makes it possible to look at the project objectives and outcomes through these meanings. According to the results of this study equality and inequality had different meanings in the context of these projects. Some of these meanings emphasized more individual characteristics and skills and some were taking into consideration more structural factors. Employees described the projects as temporary solutions with uncertainty of continuation and maintenance of developed solutions after finalizing them.
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(2021)Objective of the study. Transition from studies to work can be considered as an important process in human life and it has impact on personal well-being. Study and work engagement, which are affected by individual, collective, and situational factors, have been shown to have positive effects. In this study, study and work engagement is defined as a long-term and fulfilling positive experience which is shown as vigour, dedication, and absorption. More detailed studies of engagement in the transition from higher education to work is missing from generalized fields. Aim of this study is to examine meaningful experiences of the study and work engagement in the transition from university to work with master students and Masters of Educational Science. Aim of the study is also to examine the objects in the interviewees’ studies and work of engagement. Methods. The data consisted of semi-structured interviews collected in total from 20 participants. Critical incident -technique was applied in the interviews. 9 of the interviewees were students of educational sciences and 11 of them were Masters of Educational Science. All of them were working. The data were qualitatively analysed by abductive content analysis. Results and conclusions. The meaningful experiences in the studies and work were similar in both groups. The meaningful experiences of the interviewed students were related to the beginning of the studies, courses and events, internships, the first work in related field, present situation, and future. The interviewed masters’ meaningful experiences lacked experiences of pedagogical studies. Also, instead of challenges in studies and work the interviewees described challenges which affected on studying and working, and other challenges. The objects of the interviewees’ meaningful experiences were mainly the studies and work or matters followed by those.
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(2020)Careers have changed from moving hierarchically within a single organization to moving in more diverse directions. These changes have proven to affect also the relationship between employee and employer. The psychological contract theory has been used in studies to understand the reciprocal relationship between the employee and the employer and what the parties expect from each other in the employment relationship. This Master Thesis is an assignment from Company X and its purpose is to study former and current plant engineers’ and employer representatives' expectations of a plant engineer’s work and career. According to the sponsoring company, the turnover rate for plant engineers is too high and for that reason the aim of this study is to understand the expectations of both parties. This study is implemented as a qualitative theme interview. I interviewed four current plant engineers, two former plant engineers, and five employer representatives. The data was analyzed using a theory-guided qualitative content analysis approach and psychological contract theory structures the analysis. The research findings indicate that an employee's work and career expectations are subjective and impacted by the messages they receive and interpret from the organization, social cues and individual predispositions. The turnover rate is heightened by the constant messages about the high turnover rate and that the job is positioned as a “fast track” to other jobs. Employer representatives' expectations about a plant engineer's work and career were partly contradictory. Considering psychological contract theory, the expectations should be clarified in order to communicate them consistently to the employees.
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(2021)Objectives. The purpose of the study is to find out whether the group discussions of primary school teachers features concepts related to competitiveness. I look at the subject by asking teachers what direction comprehensive school is heading towards and how teachers would develop comprehensive school. The discussion on education policy has general features of competitiveness and it is described as neoliberal. In the theoretical framework, I examined the policies and programs of education politics in support of the theory. The concept of competitiveness is described as vague and ambiguous. In the group discussions themes that were mentioned frequently were evaluation, measurement and development. These concepts are related to competitiveness. I looked at my research problem through themes. This research is from the fields of general and adult education research. Methods. The study was carried out using qualitative methods. As a research method, I used thematic analysis. I conducted two group discussion for collecting my data. Two groups of primary school teachers participated in the group discussions in spring 2019. Both primary schools are located in the Uusimaa region. Results and conclusions. The results show that competitiveness emerged in the group discussions of primary school teachers. Competitiveness comes to the fore in the group discussions of primary schools teachers as an emphasis on evaluation and measurement. In addition, the results show that in comprehensive school, individualization plays a key role. The contrary speech of competitiveness emerged in discussions as development. Defining the concept of competitiveness in the educational context of primary school requires further research.
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(2022)Aims of the study. This study seeks to find out what kind of situations students typically face during their progress through university studies and what kind of different pathways can be identified as a series of these situations. The aim was to map out and to develop a clustering-based method of identifying these situations and pathways from student transcript data that would complement the information provided by commonly used measures of student progression. Methods. The research strategy of this study follows that of design research, where methods and new knowledge is built iteratively. The data consists of student transcript data of 3167 students at the University of Helsinki who had started their studies in computer science, mathematics, or general and adult education between the years 2010 and 2015. The data was provided by the Agile Education Research group at the University of Helsinki and contained all records of passed or failed completion attempts that had been recorded by 11.3.2020. The data was shaped to coarser level to be used in cluster analysis and clustered using k-medians clustering. Results and conclusions. The results show that it is possible to use clustering as a tool to better understand student transcript data and the pathways students take through their university degrees. The shown clustering makes it possible to describe the progression of studies both on the individual and group levels. Three clusters defining the starting situations and 22 clusters defining the situations during studies were identified. Transitions between clusters show that series of clusters for several pathways that have different stages and outcomes. In conclusion, the results show that student transcript data contains information which universities could use in efforts aimed at helping students advance in their studies
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(2022)Objectives. The purpose of the dissertation was to study the basic psychological needs and positive mental health of employees in a Finnish financial sector organization. The research task was to examine the current state of the basic psychological needs of the theory of authenticity, benevolence and self-determination among the employees of the target organization and their connection to the perceived positive mental health. The study examined the construction of a new model and its relationship to positive mental health using linear regression analysis. Methods. For the study, I constructed a research questionnaire utilizing several validated measures of positive mental health, authenticity, benevolence, and SDT theory’s basic psychological needs. The questionnaire was administered to the employees of the target group by e-mail. Participation was voluntary and 395 responses were received. Correlation, cluster analysis, and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The study involved using linear regression analysis for modelling relations between basic psychological needs of self-determination theory across authenticity, benevolence and self-determination, and examining its relationship to positive mental health. Results and conclusions. Satisfaction with the basic psychological needs of the employees of the target organization was quite strong. On the other hand, the perceived positive mental health of the employees was somewhat lower than the average of the Finnish population in general. The study revealed that the basic psychological needs of self-determination theory, benevolence, and authenticity are associated with perceived positive mental health. The model called as a Calling and model of Calling obtained in the study explained a total of 49% of the variation in positive mental health. The results show that high satisfaction with the basic psychological needs of workers in the financial sector predicts a higher perceived positive mental health.
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(2021)Important transitions in life require a special ability to navigate in a changing environment. These transitions pose challenges for all people, but especially for people on the autism spectrum. Studies show that both the transition to higher education and from higher education to work pose certain difficulties for them. At the same time, the aim is to promote the diversity of higher education and a smoother work transition. The support of the universities has been found to promote both the progress of studies and skills important in studies. The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to look at speech related to support for students on the autism spectrum at universities. The research material consisted of six interviews in which two career services employees, two university teachers, and both current and graduate students on the autism spectrum were interviewed. The interviews were originally part of the Improving Employability of Autistic Graduates in Europe (IMAGE) project. The six interviews were selected for use in this thesis together with the researcher involved in the project. The research material was analyzed by discourse analysis. As a result of the analysis, three discourses were outlined, which were named similarization discourse, individualization discourse, and individualistic discourse. The subject positions of students on the autism spectrum transitioning to work, were outlined through substance- and special skills and without individualistic agency. These subject positions did not fully meet the individualistic expectations of employers, or the support formed based on these expectations.
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(2022)More and more university students are experiencing symptoms of burnout. The symptoms of burnout can start already in the first year of study. This is worrisome because exhaustion has been found to be linked to, among other things, depression and university dropout. Preventing burnout is important for students' well-being. Psychological flexibility has been found to be associated with lower burnout. Psychological flexibility (based on Acceptance and commitment therapy, ACT) means the ability to be present in the moment and live according to one's own values. Most of the research on psychological flexibility is based on the work environment, so research on psychological flexibility among university students is necessary. The aim of this study was to investigate the burnout of first-year students and the connections between psychological flexibility and study burnout. The aim was to investigate whether psychological flexibility alleviates study burnout. The data has been collected through the HowULearn questionnaire (n=261) prepared at the Center for University Teaching and Learning HYPE at the University of Helsinki. The research questions were: How exhausted are first-year students at the beginning and end of the 1st year? 2. In what ways are college students' psychological flexibility and study burnout connected? 3. How does perceived burnout differ in different profiles of psychological flexibility? Student burnout was found to have increased significantly between the measurement carried out in autumn 2020 and spring 2021. The research results showed that study burnout and psychological flexibility were statistically significantly connected. The study showed that psychological flexibility is important for the level of study burnout. The burnout of the most psychologically flexible students was at a lower level in both the initial and final measurements. However, burnout increased in all profiles of psychological flexibility. The impact of psychological flexibility on burnout indicates that ACT-based interventions implemented with university students would be a good solution for preventing student burnout. In addition to this, increasing students' awareness of burnout symptoms would be a good way to prevent study burnout.
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(2022)The aim of the thesis was to describe the effects that the distance learning period, caused by the Corona pandemic, had on the field of Finnish liberal adult education, from the viewpoint of senior students. The main research question was the following 1) What are the reasons for the senior student to choose between distance learning and contact learning. In addition to liberal adult education, this thesis addresses traditional adult education, life-long learning, as well as distance learning phenomena. The thesis emphasises how liberal adult education has adapted to distance learning and how the senior students, who were used to the traditional classroom learning situation, now prefer to learn. The study method was mixed. The thesis was set on the study field of adult education and voluntary learning. The study was conducted via a voluntary questionnaire, which included open questions and multiple-choice questions. The thesis material consisted of the answers made by the senior students N = 188. The material was analysed with the methods of content analysis, as well as numerically. The written sources included international articles, scientific studies, and books. The thesis concluded that the senior students have vastly different kinds of viewpoints on what is good learning and teaching. The senior students are not a homogenic group that share similar pref-erences. Only a small majority of the study sample preferred contact teaching in a classroom to dis-tance learning. Those who preferred contact teaching felt the sense of community important. Rather than the technological side of online learning, the social and pedagogical side proved out to be a bigger explanation why they do not wish to take part in distance learning classes. Preferring either of the studying methods is not only connected to a person’s skillset, resources, and home support but to the content and substance of the course itself. Hybrid teaching was noted to be in demand in the answers of the students. Organizing it might challenge the institutes of liberal adult education. The role of Finnish liberal adult education in the future is providing accessible, voluntary, and equal education for everyone.
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(2022)Background: Complexity theory describes a system that evolves and adapts to its environment as a complex adaptive (CAS) system. Renewal is presented as a collective and systemic process. The process begins in unstable stage caused by changes in conditions. This study examines teachers' experiences of the nature and conditions of collaboration in a stable and unstable state in five primary schools in Finland, from the lens of complexity theory framework and Innovative school model Problems: The aim of the study is to find out how teachers describe collaboration, leadership, competence and competence development, networking, and resources in a stable and unstable state, and how these components change with forced renewal in the Covid Age. Methods: The data consists of surveys collected in autumn 2019 (n = 61) and interviews conducted in May 2020 (n = 10). The data was analysed with qualitative content analysis. Results: The following was identified from teachers' experiences: 1) In contact education teachers implemented collaboration utilizing teamwork structures to varying degrees. During distance education, teachers changed their teamwork methods, either in a managed or self-organizing and need based way. They also took advantage of the possibilities of technology. 2) The guidance of both upper management and the school's own management or the lack of guidance in responding to distance education was emphasized. 3) There was both an adequate and inadequate level of competence during both contact and distance education. The distance education period made the differences transparent especially in teachers' digipedagogical skills. The use of technology and the development of teachers' skills during the period of contact and distance education were supported by teachers' learning and development activities, as well as sharing of knowledge. During the distance education period, there were positive changes in the conditions of school development and in attitudes towards development. Collaboration with families was emphasized during distance education. 4) Inadequate resources were emphasized in contact education. In distance education the students' own and school-borrowed equipment, changes in operating conditions and the increase in working hours were emphasized. Conclusion: Distance education became a cross-cutting development target for school actors and activities. Communities and networks, such as families and the entire education system, were connected by the common need for development. The forced development activities brought about the development of competence and changes in teachers' attitudes towards the development of one`s own operations and the pedagogical use of technology. Teachers also relied on their colleagues support and recognized its importance more than before. At the same time, rapid change and the use of technology caused negative changes such as workload and stress. Practices that support school activities, developed at both the individual and community levels, should be utilized in the development of post-covid education and interaction.
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(2023)This thesis approaches the work of school assistants in a multi-professional work community by examining how the school assistants feel they are part of the school´s work community. On the basis of previous research, it has been found that the feeling of belonging is strengthened when a person feels that their basic psychological needs, i.e., autonomy, competence and relatedness have been met. The feeling of belonging and basic psychological needs increase the school assistants job satisfaction. A motivated and satisfied school assistant enjoys their job better, which also reduces the prevailing turnover rate. The theories of basic psychological needs, sense of belonging and job satisfaction is used as background theories. The research material was collected by using an electronic questionnaire that was published in a closed Facebook group for school assistants in October 2022. 404 school assistants responded to the survey. The SPSS Statistics 27 program was used to analyse the quantitative data. The school assistants’ sense of belonging, the fulfilment of basic psychological needs and the level of job satisfaction were examined with indicators and the differences between variables in relation to different background variables with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-test. Connections between variables were examined using Pearson correlation coefficient. In which ways basic psychological needs explained the school assistants’ sense of belonging was determined by means of a linear regression analysis. Most school assistants felt that they belonged to their work community well, that their basic psychological needs were also met well, and they felt that they were satisfied with their work. A closer examination of external job satisfaction showed that especially the ratio of salary and workload caused low satisfaction. The sense of belonging was quite strongly connected with autonomy and relatedness and moderately connected with competence. The material showed that the group most dissatisfied with their work was found in the 30–39-year-olds who had worked as assistants for 6–10 years. The same group also experienced the strongest feelings of not belonging. Among the areas of basic needs, the fulfilment of autonomy explained more strongly job satisfaction while relatedness explained belonging. With the help of these results, more attention should be paid to the formation of school assistants’ sense of belonging by accepting school assistants as equal members of the works community in all schools in Finland.
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(2019)The research task of this Master's thesis is to describe, analyze and interpret how the principals of Finnish elementary schools and high schools experience their workload and their job satisfaction. These are examined by the workload and resource factors of principal’s job. In addition, the ways of how the workload appears and ways of recovery are discussed. The thesis is a qualitative pilot study for a broader welfare research conducted by the Finnish Principals Association, which will be implemented during 2019. Previous studies on the work of a Finnish principal have shown that his job description is extensive, that the workload is high and job satisfaction is put to the test every day. This research was guided by the following research questions: How do principals experience their workload and work satisfaction? What are the factors that the principals feel stressing them on their work and how does the workload show? What do the principals feel are resource factors in their work and how and by what means do they recover? The material consists of interviews with sixteen Finnish principals of elementary schools and high schools. The interviews were conducted as a semi-structured theme interview. The interview questions related to the principal’s own experience of their job satisfaction, workload, the ways in which the workload appears, their experience of the resources of their work, and how they feel they success to recover, and how do they recover. The material was analyzed phenomenographically because the subject of the research were the subjective perceptions and experiences of the principals. According to the material, the Finnish principals are very satisfied with their work, despite its relatively high workload. The experience of satisfaction arises especially through the independence, significance and influence of the work. The principal's experience and attitude also seemed to be relevant to how the workload was experienced. Generally, the workload was described high and the load was described to appear as typical stress-induced warning signs, but the principals, however, judged the workload as being reasonable. The workload was considered to be a natural part of the principal's work and the respondents tended to have a constructive attitude towards it. The principals also reported that their own recovery was generally successful, which according to respondents was of great importance to coping with work.
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(2020)The aim of my Master’s Thesis was to find out what kind of tasks were set for education in the 2019 parliamentary election programs. For years, researchers in the United States and Europe have studied the educationalization of social problems, which refers to the tendency to look to educational institutions in resolving the pressing social problems. In Finland, this phenomenon has rarely been studied under its own concept. Previous studies on the change in educational policy towards more individual-centered and market-oriented thinking suggested that educationalization also takes place in the Finnish context as well. In my research, I try to find out the kind of tasks political parties assign to education in their election programs and how they present the educationalization of social problems. The aim of my research is to create a picture of the most common tasks to be set for the education in the spring 2019 parliamentary election programs and to analyze the educationalization associated with the programs. The material of my research is the election programs of the parties elected to Parliament in the 2019 parliamentary elections. In my study, I relied on a frame analysis, which I use to structure the most common tasks and ideals set for education. After compiling the frames, I analyze each frame based on previous research. In my analysis, I seek to highlight the educationalization that appears in the election programs. The tasks given by the parties were very much in line with each other. The results showed a clear educationalization, which identified various complex societal problems as the responsibility for education, without specifying in more detail how education could actually solve the problem. More extensive research on educationalization is needed in the Finnish context, for example, to find out whether the resources given to education are in line with the increased number of tasks.
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(2020)Based on previous studies, neoliberal features have been observed in Finnish education policy. The government has made education-related reforms in recent years. My research examines the recent public debate surrounding education reforms in a neoliberal framework. I examine what themes, goals, rationales, and attitudes toward education reform are given in the public debate. I will try to find out how neoliberalism manifests itself in these debates. The aim of my dissertation is to bring out the public debate around education reforms and education policy. The study of the debate is intended to bring out different perspectives and voices, from education policy experts, academics, students, and individual citizens. I examine the manifestations of neoliberal education policy in the light of these debates. My research is a qualitative study. I search answers to two research questions. My data consists of articles. As a research method, I used content analysis. The data of my research consists of 51 articles by Helsingin Sanomat published in 2015–2019. Articles were analyzed by content analysis. Through content analysis, I found four different themes. I looked at the results in a neoliberal framework. The education reform debate revolved around student selection, industry changers, education cuts, and education policy. The debate around education reforms was controversial. On the one hand, education reforms were justified as profitable and good ideas, but on the other hand, they were criticized and questioned. Educational reforms raised concerns and appeared to pose threats to education and the scientific community, as well as to society. Based on the discussion, neoliberal features emerge in education reforms.
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(2023)This master’s thesis examines the Finnish education brand constructed through the marketing communications of Finnish education export companies, and the discursive strategies that companies use to legitimize their activities. The aim of the thesis is to examine, what are the attractiveness factors and justifications that Finnish education export companies rely on in marketing and branding their education in the early 2020s. Since topping the PISA-rankings in the early 2000s, Finland has gained international recognition for its education system. Since then, the Finnish government has strategically tried to capitalize the “PISA-miracle” and turn education into a new significant area for export. However, in the current context, excessive reliance on PISA success can be seen as problematic, as Finland's PISA results have been on a downward trend for a long time. Therefore, it is relevant to examine what other factors have become essential components of the Finnish education brand and how companies are adapting to a scenario where PISA-success cannot be relied upon as heavily as before. The research data was collected from the websites of 11 Finnish education export companies, operating in the field of primary education, as well as from the web page of the Education Finland project, coordinated by the Finnish National Agency for Education, aimed at boosting Finnish education exports. The analysis was conducted in two parts: firstly, a thematic analysis was done to identify the themes describing the Finnish education brand. Secondly, using critical discourse analysis, the data were examined to identify the discourses that legitimize education exports, and these discourses were then analysed in relation to Van Leeuwen's (2007) theory of legitimation strategies. The thematic analysis identified four main themes of the Finnish education brand: well-being, equality, creative thinking, and expertise. The legitimation of the Finnish education export was built around the discourses of societal development, evolving expertise, and professionalism. Hence, Finnish educational competence was presented as a tool for social development, raising the level of competence and responding to current and future needs of competence.
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(2020)Objectives. The aim of this research was to address the possible connections between school choice and school segregation. The study covered three countries that were Finland, Sweden and England. The theoretical background of this research was based on the most relevant concepts for this research. These concepts were neoliberalism, New Public Management, school choice, educational markets and segregation. Method. I conducted this research as a systematic literature review which means that the data consisted of other researches. The collection of the material was conducted systematically from three different databases. The final material consists of 17 articles, 7 of them from Sweden and 5 from Finland and 5 from England. After the search I analysed all the articles from the point of my research question. From those results I formed a synthesis about each country. Results and conclusion. According to the results there were segregation between schools and in many cases, it was the result of school choice. In some cases, school segregation was explained to be the cause of residential segregation and the cause of residential segregation and school choice combined. In Finland and Sweden school choice explained school segregation more often than it did in England.
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